Ditching Guilty Pleasures Mindset - Let’s Revel In Them Instead!

Whenever you indulge in something, do you feel guilty because it seems like a waste of time, money or that it’s unproductive? Well, if you said yes to the above, it’s time to think again and perhaps stop that way of thinking. In fact, psychologists believe that “guilty pleasures” are good for us. Specifically, our brains. “A guilty pleasure is something that we enjoy, but we know we’re either not supposed to like, or that liking it says something negative about us,” said Sami Schalk, an assistant professor of gender and women’s studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Source: The New York Times Personally, I've come to the conclusion that guilty pleasures is nothing more than a social label. Being a mummy is already tough on us. Taking care of every aspect of life, on top of all the responsibilities we take on as a mother, isn’t an easy job. Most times, we often neglect ourselves while focusing on giving our best to all our loved ones. So when you indulge in something that may seem useless or a waste in the eyes of others, you need not feel guilty about it. Taking care of yourself is important for your wellbeing. Doing what you love and what makes you happy is never counter-productive nor a waste. Repeat this new mantra to yourself, self-care is important and a must-do! Being Happy Makes You More Productive Ditch that guilty pleasure mindset, and start revelling in it instead. Whether it’s what other people call trashy novels, meaningless and brain-draining TV series, women’s magazines, etc, if you find joy in them, so be it. Indulge, if it makes you happy! Image credit: Pexels Psychologists say that being happy helps our brain work better. When our brain functions better, we’d be more productive at what needs to get done. Doesn’t that make everyone happy if productivity is what we want? So why shouldn’t we let ourselves do what we love, stay happy and sane all at the same time? It’s normal and healthy for us to embrace our need for pleasure. We’re not talking about over-doing it. It’s about finding the right balance and not indulge up to the point of extremity. Slowing Down And Getting Enough Rest in a Fast Paced World Do you also feel guilty when you want to do nothing and just let yourself be? Again, don’t be. We need to allow ourselves to have some down time. Allow ourselves to slow down. It’s one of the ways to combat anxiety and depression. We don’t always have to be up and about, occupied every minute of the day. Rest is the last thing on our mind when the day is hectic. We need to take a break, if not physically, then at least mentally. Image credit: Pexels Rest and sleep are many people’s hidden guilty pleasures. In a world where achievements and success are highly sought after, most of our time are allocated to such endeavours. We may even inadvertently be drawing up similar routines and paths for our children. Taking time to rest or even to sleep a few more hours have many people flipping out that they are not doing enough. On the contrary, getting enough rest and sleep are important to a healthy lifestyle. Only with a healthy body, mind and spirit can we achieve what we want. We know this in theory. We’ve come across many articles that show scientific evidence of how our body will benefit from having enough rest and sleep. Nevertheless, we feel that we have no choice as we don’t seem to have enough hours in a day to complete everything that needs to be done. Striking The Balance We Need If we’ve been living for years in which we push aside our “guilty pleasures” to focus on what’s deemed more important, it will take time for us to adjust to a lifestyle that embraces them freely. The first step is to accept in our own mind that it is OK to include moments of pleasure into our daily lives. Then, we need to ignore nay-sayers and not let their judgement stop us from the way we want to spend our time. Image credit: Pexels Find that balance and time so that we can both nurture ourselves and also grow and achieve our goals. We need both to live a more fulfilling life. There’s no right and wrong as to the kind of balance to sustain, it all depends on our own needs. Sometimes we may need one more than the other. Do what feels right to you, without having to come to a point of exhaustion or boredom. So, if it’s been a long time since you let yourself have a go with your favourite things, start listing them down and go for it. Indulge, and be merry! A happy you makes a happy wife and mother to your beloved family.

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